


XXX IGNORE THIS XXX [Courtship]

by Himi (greighish)



Series: The Black Cat's Moon [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-14
Updated: 2014-08-14
Packaged: 2018-02-13 02:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2133093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greighish/pseuds/Himi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Initially I had this set up as a series, but I took so much time off from writing it that I forgot why I did that instead of just chapters. So, I added this part and the second part (Nice Receive!) to the third part (Side Out).  Since there's no way to merge works and I didn't want to lose the comments, I removed the original first and second parts from the series, so just ignore this.</p><p>However, it will remain a series because there's a side story that I need to write. My apologies for any confusion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	XXX IGNORE THIS XXX [Courtship]

Lean fingers pinched, pulled, pushed, and poked at the knot that had developed in Tsukishima's neck after sleeping through most of the nearly 2-hour train ride from Sendai to Tokyo. He arrived early in hopes of getting some shopping in before meeting up with Akiteru's team for a practice match with their coach's alma mater. Although he agreed with Coach Ukai when he said he should look to Nekoma's Kuroo for guidance where blocking was concerned, he didn't really have a lot of time during the rest of the camp to continue with him. He figured today's practice should more than make up for it. At the end of the camp he thought it was just as well that he couldn't run through a few more drills with Kuroo because he didn't know how to handle that guy. Whether he was aware of it or not--most likely he was--that guy had a way of getting under his skin. At the thought of him, Tsukishima sucked his teeth in regret--over a few things, actually-- he wished he wasn't so uneasy around Nekoma's captain and he wished he had gotten over his fear of disappointment sooner so he could have taken better advantage of the time they did have. Well, what's done is done.

* * *

After he checked out a few music stores, Tsukishima found all but one of the CDs he wanted to get. The last one was a long shot anyway, so he decided he'd curb the heartbreak and head over to the only store that sold the headphones he read about in a magazine a few weeks ago. He called and reserved them the day before, so there was no chance of walking out of that store empty handed.

With his prized purchase now in hand, Tsukishima made his way back to the train station and returned to kneading some relief into his neck. His right shoulder had grown tired while reaching his arm across to his other side as he performed his ministrations. Just when he thought to give up because the knot didn't seem to be any looser than it was when he woke up on the train, a warm hand slid over the spot, firmly gripped it and rolled right into the kind of massage Tsukishima had been aiming for, but failed miserably at achieving.

He looked to his left, out the corner of his eye, and saw long fingers moving expertly, rhythmically along the slope of his neck and shoulder. Slowly, to the right he turned to find a familiarly infuriating smirk, he scoffed, "coxcomb-senpai?"

Kuroo stopped cold and let his hand fall away from Tsukishima's shoulder, "really?"

Tsukishima came to a stop as well and turned as he asked, "is that a rhetorical question?"

"Aww, megane-kun--"

"It's Tsukishima."

"Right,  _Tsukki_." He laughed a bit when he saw Tsukishima bristle at the nickname. "Speaking of... Where's your crew?"

"My...crew?"

"Shorty and the rest--your team?"

"In their skin, I suppose. I'm not travelling with them."

"So what are you doing down here?"

"I was minding my business before you came along."

"You're so cute when you act like you're annoyed. Do you want me to show you around?"

You would never think it was possible, but the corners of Tsukishima's mouth turned down even more than they already were in response to being called  _cute_.

"What? You don't think you're cute? Well, you're not all pocket-sized and lively like your #10, but you certainly bring a smile to  _my_  face."

Tsukishima rolled his eyes and adjusted his backpack. "I'm here for practice with my brother's team; I'm not here to sight see, so if you'll excuse me." His head tilted in deference, and then turned to leave.

Kuroo reached out and caught a hold of the loop on Tsukishima's bag and just a bit of his collar, lightly choking him in the process.

"What the hell are you doing?!" he growled as he found his balance.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you, I just didn't want you to get away."

"What?" he asked sternly. "I just told you my name, you could have just called it like a normal person." Tsukishima looked around and noticed passersby staring.

"I'm--"

Tsukishima cut him off with a tight-lipped glare. Tokyo has 13 million people in it. How is it that he managed to run into this guy? He wasn't running late, but he didn't want to chance it, being in a relatively unfamiliar place. He worked up as bright a smile as he could, though his eyes were flat, "bedhead-senpai, I'd like to be on my way, if you don't mind."

Kuroo ignored his request--and the name--and decided that Tsukishima wouldn't know his way around, not being from Tokyo, so he offered to escort him. Tsukishima declined without delay, but Kuroo was casually insistent about it.

Tsukishima realized, with this approach, the conversation would go on forever if he didn't either make a scene or agree to it.

* * *

Tsukishima walked half a step behind Kuroo, because he, in fact, was not 100% percent sure about his route to the university. They had to catch one bus and the walk to it was short, but as they went, Kuroo pointed out this and that location and recalled a few incidents that Tsukishima found extremely funny. However, his desire not to get too involved with the guy prevented him from laughing along as Kuroo remembered things fondly. Even though he was only half listening when they passed a cafe whose window case was filled with a variety of shortcakes--primarily strawberry--he almost let a giggle slip when he paused in front of the window for a brief moment.  _That was close_ , he thought to himself. He wiped off the imaginary drool and let the strap on his left shoulder slide off as his hand continued over to the knot that was only half worked out...thanks to Kuroo. "Ugh."

"Let me," Kuroo requested as he slung his arm across Tsukishima's back and placed his palm on top of the boy's reedy fingers.

"No thank you."

"Two minutes. Just two."

Tsukishima acquiesced. Three blocks and five minutes later, the knot was gone, but Kuroo's hand was still on his shoulder. He wanted him to move it but he didn't want that to lead to him having to acknowledge the gesture or thank him for alleviating the pain, so instead he asked, "don't you have better things to do?"

"What could be better than hanging out with you?"

Tsukishima dismissed it as filler nonsense as he adjusted his backpack, effectively removing Kuroo's hand.

* * *

"So you're not just bothering me?" Tsukishima asked in response to finding out that Kuroo actually had plans to go to the same place he was going.

"I've been accepted to all of my choices, so now I'm just doing some...reverse scouting. Today's the last one."

"Who chooses a school for sports without seeing them play?"

"Heh. Nah, it's not like that. I've seen all of them play, some against each other, but seeing a team during a competition and watching them practice are totally different things." He looked at Tsukishima to see if he understood and then nudged him. "It's like getting to know someone intimately. You know what I mean,  _Tsukki_?"

* * *

When they arrived, Akiteru's captain mistook Kuroo for Tsukishima's friend and let him join in the practice. He forgot that the practice was supposed to make up for not having more time to train with Kuroo and protested by offering that Kuroo was unprepared. However, since the tag-along had intended to meet up with Kenma, Bokuto, and Akaashi for a few drills after his reverse scouting, he actually had his gear with him.

During the first game, they were on opposing sides--Tsukishima was with his brother's team and Kuroo was with the host university's. He'd finally come to his senses and realized that having Kuroo join in was actually an opportunity that he'd be stupid to pass up. After Kuroo blocked a particularly awesome quick by his team's Ace, Tsukishima admitted to himself that he was glad that he got to see Kuroo in action up close again, but he didn't like the smirk that kept getting flashed at him, let alone the comments the cocky bastard kept whispering through the net.

The second game saw the boys on the same side of the net. He was wowed at how Kuroo held his own against the collegiate players when he was facing him, but when they were side by side, Tsukishima got the chance to really experience it. Even as he marked this or that spiker, Kuroo's scope of awareness was broad--he would whisper or gesture to Tsukishima what his next action should be and he was never wrong. He had gotten a taste of it when they were blocking Bokuto, but the ability to do it even in the midst of competing was a skill Tsukishima could not dismiss.

Once the game was over the teams mixed and mingled and then broke off into smaller groups to do some focused drills. Tsukishima and Kuroo were fortunate enough to end up with the host school's Ace who also happened to be one of the best middle blockers at Japan's post-secondary level. The Ace monitored Tsukishima's posture and corrected him when needed. He pressed one palm behind his shoulder and against his abdomen to tweak the arch of his block. With his newly awakened drive, he took to the instruction well. They ran a few trials before the Ace had to step away for a moment. In his absence, Kuroo guided him.

Kuroo's in-game awesomeness had overshadowed his uttering of nonsense from before they arrived at the gym. He was almost 190 cm--being called cute by anyone was something he wasn't accustomed to. He chalked it up as more of Kuroo's nonsense, but now with one of Kuroo's hands on his hip and the other flat against his chest as he demonstrated the way he should be reaching when he blocks, Kuroo's words were coming back to him. As he sorted through their earlier conversation in an attempt to determine if he should mind anything Kuroo had said, he became increasingly more aware of something more pressing in the present. Kuroo had moved from his side to behind him and had begun to re-position his whole body to conform to his own. A low voice vibrated behind his ear, the back of his neck tingled from the warm breath that brushed against it, and something was definitely touching his butt, yet Kuroo's tone was earnest and critical. When his surrogate instructor let go of his wrists leaving his arms in the air, they slid down the front of him--barely touching him--but close enough to skim over his nipples. It was a weird sensation and Tsukishima could feel himself blush, but Kuroo went right on as if nothing happened. He wanted to elbow him, but if Kuroo really hadn't noticed, it would have caused an unnecessary scene. He felt embarrassed, but he wasn't sure what his face looked like to others. Fortunately, while he tried to figure out how to get Kuroo off his back, a whistle blew from the other end of the gym. He couldn't move away fast enough.

* * *

Akiteru's team was staying overnight, but Tsukishima had to get back to Miyagi. They said their good-byes and he assured his brother that he would be fine getting back to the train.

A block away from the gym he felt a chill and had the odd notion that he was being followed. He turned his head just enough to peer over his shoulder. He was certain he would see nothing, but to his surprise he saw Kuroo gaining on him. Running away would make a scene, so he faced forward and continued walking. Kuroo's legs were long and his gait was steady and swift, so he was upon Tsukishima before he knew it.

Kuroo draped his arm around Tsukishima and quickly caught his breath. He asked why he kept walking when saw him trying to catch up to him. When he received no answer, Kuroo leaned in and apologized. Tsukishima was shocked and wanted to ask  _for what_ , but he didn't want the conversation to go on any longer than it already had.

Kuroo read his mind. "I wasn't trying to be funny. It was just an honest reaction. You're really cute when you're being serious. I didn't intend for that to happen and I didn't want to make you any more uncomfortable by drawing attention to it, so I just kept going. I'm sorry."

Without the slightest inflection, Tsukishima thanked Kuroo for his consideration and started to excuse himself, but before he could say another word, he was interrupted.

"I know you have to get back home, so I'm not going to keep you, but I just wanted to thank you for letting me tag along today and if you're ever back down this way or want to come back down, just give me a call." Kuroo crooked his neck so the could look up at Tsukishima. "Exchange?" he asked as he pulled out his phone.

Tsukishima adjusted his backpack. "Well, other than today, I don't have any business here, so I don't think I'll be back."

With his phone still in position to transfer, Kuroo gave Tsukishima a look as if to ask,  _what's your point?_

"There's no point in exchanging numbers if I'm never going to use it."

"Come on...you never know."

"What would I even come back here for?"

"Oh, you wound me. Isn't seeing me enough of a reason?"

"Hardly. What do you want with me anyway?"

Kuroo's patent smirk returned along with a raised eyebrow. "Heh...," he said smugly.

Tsukishima was past the regret of giving him as much time as he had up until now. He was irritated and it didn't help that that feeling he had when Kuroo was standing behind him on the court had started to return. "I don't know what's going on under that plumage of yours, but I'm not interested."

"You're not interested in practicing with me?"

Tsukishima's brow furrowed deeply and he questioned him doubtfully, "practicing what?"

"Blocking, of course! You've already had a taste, why not try out the full course. You and me... one-on-one..."

"Could you not say things so suggestively?" He actually wanted to get more time in with Kuroo on the court. And though it irked him to accept the invitation under these circumstances, there really wasn't a lot of time left before the preliminaries. Tsukishima pulled out his phone, but then sucked his teeth when he saw a full-blown smile on that sly cat's face. He had no desire to make him happy, so he decided to ignore that illuminated grin and anything that it could imply. "It's not like I have all the time in the world or money to be traveling down here all the time, so don't take this as any kind of promise."

Kuroo looked at the new contact details that were just beamed over, "Tsukishima...?"

"Kei."

"Is that so? Well, okay then, my little firefly, I've got your number, too, so look forward to hearing from me soon."

"Ughh," Tsukishima huffed at the thought of Kuroo calling him... especially by another nickname.


End file.
